


Saved

by Cherry



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Much as Levi tries, Not priest kink really, Vicar!Erwin, demon!Levi, eruri - Freeform, pretty much crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 00:22:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7197623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry/pseuds/Cherry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin is the vicar of a small English village. Life is generally satisfying, but not much happens beyond trying to get his parishioners to take their turn on the church cleaning rota, until the day a demon appears, determined to win his soul. </p><p>This is in the demon/priest kink tradition, but it's much more of a crack fic than smut. Demonic Levi is actually more interested in the cleaning rota than sex, although there's a bit of that, too. Religion (specifically the Church of England) is treated lightly, so please don't read if that's likely to offend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saved

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” The young man’s voice was low, subtly accented, just suggestive enough to send little electric prickles up and down Erwin’s spine in a familiar, if long ignored, fashion. Looking up at Erwin from under a fall of black, soft-looking hair, he took another long draw on his cigarette, the tip sparking red in the damp grey of the October afternoon. Erwin’s eyes focussed on the serpent tattoo curling around the young man’s wrist, following the line of its body up to where its head disappeared under the sleeve of a battered black leather jacket, then moved back to the stranger’s pretty, half-smiling mouth. The challenge in his eyes was familiar, too, and Erwin found himself smiling back in response.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Erwin said, his blue eyes twinkling, “but I’m afraid it’s really none of my business. I think you’ve mistaken me – I’m an Anglican vicar. I don’t hear confessions, although I’m always happy to talk, if something’s bothering you.”

The young man’s eyes widened fractionally, then narrowed, two vertical little frown lines appearing between his fine, dark brows. “ _What?_ ”

“I’m not a Catholic priest.”

“So – _not_ celibate?”

“No.”

“Huh. You’ll be telling me next they’re fine with you being gay, too.”

Erwin’s smile widened. “Absolutely. I imagine your job is going to be considerably harder than you thought!”

The demon sighed, dropping his cigarette on the uneven paving by the lychgate and grinding it into the ground with the heel of his boot. “Fucking hell,” he muttered.

“Well, quite,” Erwin replied. “Nice tattoo, by the way.”

“Fuck you,” the demon replied, although, oddly enough for one of his kind, there was barely any heat in it.

“Not today – but thanks for the offer,” Erwin said, holding out his hand for the demon to shake. The demon only looked at him and rolled his eyes.

“Oh well, next time perhaps,” Erwin said cheerfully. “ _My_ offer still stands, in case you’re troubled by anything. Stress? Work getting you _down_ …” He made the sign of the cross. The demon looked really annoyed for the first time. “Oh come _on_! You didn’t have to –” There was a flash of light and the demon disappeared. Erwin wrinkled his nose at the faint smell of sulphur, and made his way up the little hill to the church for morning prayers.

 

 

“Bollocks!” Levi picked himself up from the rocky floor, brushing brimstone and embers from his rapidly disintegrating jacket. Eld started to his feet, but Petra was at Levi’s side first. “Boss! What happened? Didn’t it go well?”

Levi glared at her, raking ash from his hair with impatient fingers. “What the hell does it look like? How am I supposed to work without a proper brief? Where’s that damned Oluo?”

“Well,” Petra pointed out warily, “um – technically we’re all –”

“It’s a figure of speech! Where is he?”

“Third Circle,” Gunther sighed. “Gone to get application forms.”

“Tch. He’ll be lucky if we’re not all demoted. And I am _not_ going back to Limbo again, drifting around aimlessly in the dark. Eternity needs a purpose, or it just, you know, drags on and on… The mark – this _Smith_ – turns out he’s not even a Roman Catholic. And apparently his lot are just fine with his sexuality. I could’ve gone up there in a fucking flaming thong and danced to YMCA on the altar and he wouldn’t have raised so much as one enormous golden eyebrow! Took him about two seconds to recognize what I was.”

“Hm, well, I did say the snake tattoo might have been overkill,” Eld pointed out.

“I like it,” Levi said. “ _Erwin_ liked it. I’m keeping it. But now what am I going to try? I fucking _work_ in Lust – that’s what I do!”

“You could try gluttony?” Gunther suggested. “His file said he was keen on chocolate brownies…”

“Yeah, well _his file_ missed out some fairly key info, such as the fact that he never took a vow of frigging celibacy!” Levi ranted. “I doubt turning up on his doorstep with a freshly baked batch of Bakeoff-winning brownies is gonna cut it! No, fuck that Third Circle shit. We need to get devious. What in damnation is keeping Oluo? He’s got some serious research to do!”

 

 

Erwin was in his study, feeling a little weary, having just spent the best part of an hour on the phone to Mrs. Stevens about the flower arrangements for Sunday and the somewhat fraught matter of the church cleaning-rota, when the unmistakable smell of sulphur filled the room. He turned around to find the demon sitting in his favourite leather armchair, flicking through a copy of _Hymns Thoroughly Modern_ , an execrable collection favoured by Nile, the new curate.

“My God is like a 747, he boosts my soul towards his Heaven. His love it is my landing gear, I’m grounded when my God is near,” the demon recited dryly, in what Erwin hoped, but couldn’t be completely sure, was a parody. “Well – they do say the devil has all the best tunes.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Erwin replied, taking the book from the demon’s beautifully manicured hands, and setting it down on a side table. “What do you want this time?”

“Same as usual,” the demon said, running one hand through his hair impatiently.

“My soul?” Erwin asked.

The demon made a show of looking around the room. “Don’t see anything else of value here.”

“You must know there’s no offer you could make that could possibly tempt me to accept.”

“How very definite of you. But everyone has a price. One of my subordinates suggested chocolate brownies.”

“Hmm. That _is_ tempting. But no, thank you. Although I was on the point of making a pot of tea… Can _I_ tempt _you_?”

The demon leaned forward slightly. “Well… I suppose it’s not against the rules. Black. No sugar.”

“Really? That sounds rather restrained for a demon.”

“It’s how I like it. I don’t work in the Third Circle.”

“Gluttony,” Erwin remembered.

“You know your Dante. Not that he got everything right.”

“I’ll get the tea.” Erwin went to the kitchen, and found the demon already there, perched on the worktop next to the kettle. “So – where do you work?” Erwin asked.

“Second Circle. Lust,” the demon replied. He smiled – a flash of very white teeth and the promise of danger - and Erwin couldn’t deny the jolt it gave him.

“Hmm. I bet you’re good at it, too.”

“Yeah.” The demon tilted his head, and Erwin was very aware of the graceful line of his throat, the suddenly obvious beauty of his fine features, the suggestion of hard muscle beneath the simple jeans and long-sleeved black t-shirt he was wearing this time. Erwin swallowed hard, and forced his attention back to the teapot. The demon sighed. “It would be fun,” he said. “And it’s not any kind of a sin in your church, is it? You’ve taken no vows – you’re not in another relationship…”

“I have renounced the devil,” Erwin stated firmly. The demon laughed. “Yeah – well I’m not _him_. You’re really not _that_ important.”

“You work for him.”

“So I’m told. We’ve never actually met. And your renouncing _him_ doesn’t mean _we_ can’t fool around some, does it? Come here, Erwin Smith. At least let me _try_.”

“Try what? As you’ve already pointed out, it’s not technically a sin, is it? So even if I –”

“Yes?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

The demon lifted the lid off the sugar pot, stuck his finger into it, and raised it to his lips, his eyes fixed on Erwin’s. “Even if… you came over here and fucked me right here in your kitchen, like you want to?” He sucked the sugar off his own finger in an obvious and obscene parody of a blowjob, in a way that should have been laughably crass, and yet somehow had Erwin growing hard. The demon pulled his finger out of his mouth with an audible sucking sound, and licked the remaining sugar granules from his lips. “Why not do it, then? If it isn’t a sin?”

“But why would you want me to do it, if it isn’t a sin? I thought you were here to tempt me into damnation,” Erwin said, trying not to meet the demon’s lascivious gaze.

“I am. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy myself while I try to find something else to lead you astray.”

“ _Would_ you enjoy yourself then?” Erwin found that it was difficult to resist taking this opportunity to question the demon about his existence. “I thought demons were always in torment. ‘Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it’ – that sort of thing.”

“Please,” the demon said, glowering, “don’t quote _Dr. Faustus_ at me. If you knew how many times –”

“Was Marlowe wrong, though?” Erwin persisted, noting the demon’s poorly concealed discomfort.

“Huh. Maybe not entirely. But this isn’t hell – except possibly your taste in wallpaper. What were you thinking, with the big-ass yellow chrysanthemums in the study?”

“That was my predecessor’s choice. And it’s fairly new. It would be a waste getting rid of it just because –”

“Just because it’s hideous? That’s taking piety too far, don’t you think?”

“Not really. It doesn’t bother me.”

“It gives you a headache just looking at it, sometimes. Admit it.”

“Well, yes, it is bad. But it’s not important. Bring those two mugs through will you?”

The demon hopped down from the counter, and carried the mugs through to the study, following Erwin, who led the way with the teapot and milk jug.

“Oh,” Erwin said, surveying the new décor – all tasteful creams and restful pale greens.

“Better?” the demon asked.

“Well – yes. Much better. But I can’t accept –”

“It’s done now. And it’s not for your benefit – I didn’t want to spoil my tea. It’s not as if it counts as any sort of bargain – you didn’t ask for it, so your soul’s perfectly safe.”

“But –”

“Don’t be so fucking precious, Smith. Pour the tea.”

Erwin gave in. He had to admit that he was going to find it much easier to work in the study with this new colour scheme.

The demon took his mug of black tea and sniffed it appreciatively. “Smells good. What blend is it?”

“I don’t know. It’s a supermarket own-brand.”

“Really? It’s not bad at all. Human kind is making progress in some areas, then.”

“We try,” Erwin said.

The demon nodded. “What else can any of us do?”

Erwin looked at him – a small, neat figure, rather lost in the large armchair, apparently thoroughly enjoying a mug of black tea. He was alarmed to feel something akin to pity for the demon.

“Do you have a name?” he asked.

“Why? Are you thinking you might want to summon me in the future?”

“No – I was just curious.”

The demon considered that. “Levi,” he said, after a pause.

Erwin laughed. The demon – _Levi_ – scowled. “What’s funny about that?”

“Not Beelzebub, or Lucifer, or Azazael?”

“Tch. Those are ancient demons. And way above my pay grade. Just exactly how old do you think I am?” Levi demanded, affronted.

“I have no idea. You look about – twenty five, maybe?”

The demon seemed pleased by that. “I was over thirty actually. Before I became – this.”

“So you used to be human?” Erwin’s surprise was apparent in his voice, and Levi frowned, aware that he’d given something away.

“Well – some of us are. Were. But we’re not here to talk about me.”

“I’ve rather enjoyed talking about you.”

The demon sighed quietly. “You’d enjoy fucking me more. I’m good…”

“Well, obviously _not_ , morally speaking.”

“ _Sexual_ morality is a rather outdated concept though, isn’t it?” Levi countered. “I thought it was all about individual consciences these days. Do what you want, as long as it’s all between consenting adults – that kind of thing?”

“Well, yes, but I don’t think that’s supposed to extend to demonic entities.”

“You could make an exception.”

“You seem very keen on this idea,” Erwin said. “But we’ve already established that it won’t affect your chances of winning my soul. Haven’t you got any other tricks up your sleeve?” His eyes were drawn back to the serpent tattoo. Levi smiled and pushed up the sleeve of his t-shirt so that Erwin could see the whole design.

“You like it, don’t you?” the demon asked.

“Yes,” Erwin confessed.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Levi smiled in a way that had Erwin hastily crossing his legs. “I do. It’s because however virtuous you try to be, there’s that soft little voice in your head that sometimes whispers to you to tell Mrs. Stevens exactly where to stick her flower arrangements. It’s the same one that made you skip your piano lesson at fourteen to go to that fair, where you saw the traveller boy with the dark eyes and the Irish accent who made you understand properly, for the first time, that you weren’t quite the same as the other boys in your class, with all their talk about the girls they liked. He had a tattoo on his wrist –”

“It was a cross,” Erwin said, sounding a little breathless.

“Yeah, but for you, it still represented _this_.” The demon was suddenly sitting beside Erwin on the couch, far too close, the wrist with the serpent tattoo held up before his eyes. As Erwin watched, the snake appeared to move suddenly, sliding over Levi’s pale skin with a soft hissing sound like the rustle of dry leaves.

“ _Temptation_ ,” Levi whispered. “You went home, and that night –”

“Yes. But what of it? We don’t hold that to be a sin any more.”

“But it felt like a sin to you, then,” Levi murmured, reaching to caress Erwin’s face. “And that was half the pleasure of it for you, wasn’t it? What your parents would say if they knew – your friends – your priest ... But everything’s allowed, these days. Must be tough, for someone so addicted to guilt. What do you do now, when you need that rush that only a touch of sin can provide?”

“I don’t need it any more,” Erwin said, although he felt himself flushing, and his heart beating fast. “I’m not a hormonal teenager now. I learned to put those things aside.”

“Not need, then. _Want_.”

“I’ve learned to acknowledge inappropriate want, and let it pass by,” Erwin answered, as firmly as he could manage.

“And you’re so proud of that, aren’t you? But pride is a sin, too.”

“Excessive pride, yes. I try to avoid that. But these struggles are –”

“Sent to test you? And you always did so well in tests… Here’s one for you, then; let’s see if you pass it. Kiss me.”

“No.”

“Why not? You think you won’t be able to resist me if you do?” Levi’s fingers traced Erwin’s lips lightly. Erwin shuddered.

“Are you really that weak?” Levi goaded. He leaned forward to press his mouth against Erwin’s.

Erwin jumped to his feet, the half-full mug of tea falling from his hand. He made the sign of the cross frantically, but the demon shook his head. “That only works if you mean it.”

“I –”

“Acknowledge the want – let it pass by…” Levi’s voice was somehow seductively mocking, shifting into an accent Erwin remembered, his clothes changing, his hair becoming longer, rings on his fingers, in his ears, a stud in his nose – and the walls, with their tasteful new paint, melting into darkness – the harsh rock music of twenty-four years ago mixing with the vibrating throb of generators… Erwin found himself pressed back into a slowing waltzer car, slightly dizzy and faintly nauseous, though exhilarated, from the ride.

“Wanna go again?” the demon asked. Erwin stared at him, then down at himself, still himself, in his own, thirty-eight year-old body. The demon, although dressed as the boy had been, was still also unmistakably himself.

“No,” Erwin said. “No – let me off. This is –”

“Exciting?” the demon suggested. “ _Fun_?”

“ _Wrong_!” Erwin managed.

“And that’s what makes it fun, isn’t it?” The demon climbed into the car, straddling Erwin’s lap, one hand on the rail at the back of the car, the other in Erwin’s hair. “It’s just a kiss,” the demon said. He pressed his lips to Erwin’s, hot and still sweet from the sugar, and –

“A Judas kiss!” Erwin cried, wrenching his head away.

The illusion vanished. The demon let go of Erwin’s hair, and sat back on the couch, his lips pressed together, looking more thoughtful than angry. “Yeah, well – even _he_ was only following orders, in a manner of speaking. Okay then, you pass the test. Shame about the rug – that was one of the few things in the room that had any class to it.”

“It – didn’t come from this vicarage,” Erwin replied, trying to get a grip on what was happening. “It was my father’s.”

“Thought it didn’t go with that disgusting wallpaper. Let me remove that tea stain before it soaks in.”

“No! No more tricks. No more magic. Leave it – I’ll do it.”

“But it was my fault,” the demon said. “Trying to seduce you like that, when I’d already guessed it wouldn’t work. What about if I clean it up the human way – with soap and water?”

“No. Just – be gone!” Erwin made the sign of the cross again, but the demon stayed exactly where he was. “I can’t do that, Erwin.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like I said, you have to mean it. You don’t really want me to go – and until you do, I’m staying.”

“What?”

“It’s a stalemate isn’t it? You resisted my attempt at seduction beautifully, but, for whatever reason, you just don’t have the will to dismiss me like you did the first time. Which means I can stay.”

“But you _can’t_ stay!” Erwin exclaimed. “I mean, _you_ can’t stay _here_!”

“That’s not very charitable of you,” Levi sighed. “But okay – I suppose I could get a room at the B&B in the village.” He went to the kitchen as he spoke. Erwin heard the squeak of cupboard doors, the clatter of the tin bucket from under the sink…

“This is the best they make?” Levi asked, reappearing in the study, holding up a square bar of green, cracked soap. “I take back what I said about progress.”

“No – that’s just old. I’m sure you can get a whole range of different cleaning products these days, if you want to.”

“Really?” The demon’s eyes glittered with interest, but no longer any hint of seduction. “Maybe I’ll look into that while I’m here.” He knelt on the rug, wetting the stain with a dampened cloth, and rubbing soap into it carefully. Erwin tried not to look at the way his muscles flexed under his t-shirt and in his forearms, making the serpent tattoo appear to move fitfully again. When Erwin’s eyes strayed to the inviting shape of the demon’s behind in those sinfully tight jeans, he tried to tell himself it was only because he was looking for evidence of a tail – but he found himself meditating vaguely on apples and the Garden of Eden, unable to tear his gaze away.

The demon, however, seemed oblivious to anything but the stain on the rug. He scrubbed at it diligently, soaking and wringing out his cloth repeatedly, working all the soap out of the fabric and taking the stain with it.

“There,” he said at last, with a little, oddly endearing sigh of satisfaction – “I think that’s got it. Should be as good as new once it dries.”

“Well – thank you,” Erwin said, since Levi’s effort seemed to demand some kind of acknowledgement. “You did a thorough job of that.”

“No point being half-arsed about these things,” Levi replied, taking the dirty water and the cloth away.

Erwin followed him to the kitchen. “You really should go… back where you came from. I’m not going to give you my soul, no matter how many times you try to seduce me, or decorate the vicarage, or get stains out of rugs…”

“But you do need help with the cleaning rota, don’t you?” Levi replied mildly. “Since Mrs. Roberts passed away, and Millie Trevillick moved back to the West Country? I could do that.”

“Much as I’d like to take you up on your offer,” Erwin said, almost smiling at the absurdity of the situation, “I’m not about to sell my soul for the sake of a dust-free organ loft and a polished pulpit.”

Something flashed in Levi’s eyes at that – a wicked look that said he knew _exactly_ how much Erwin would like his pulpit polished – but it was gone as soon as it appeared, and Erwin was forced to wonder whether it had been the product of his own depraved mind rather than the demon’s.

“I’m not talking about any kind of contract,” Levi said. “More – a contribution, in exchange for my board and lodging, if you let me stay in the spare room. A reciprocally beneficial arrangement, nothing more. Nothing in writing. Nothing – binding.”

“I can’t have a _demon_ boarding in the vicarage!”

“Well, you can’t very well inflict one on the B&B, knowing what I am, can you?” Levi pointed out reasonably.

“I don’t know – they never come to church…” Erwin smiled at his own weak joke, then shook his head, appalled at how easy it was to fall into casual conversation with this hellish visitor. He made the sign of the cross again, but, as he had feared, nothing happened. “All right,” he agreed, finally. “You can stay in the spare room. But if any of the parishioners work out what you are –”

“They won’t. I’ll be charming – I promise. I can be very charming, if I want to be.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Erwin sighed, wondering what he’d got himself into, but his mind already whirring with possibilities.

 

 

“How did it go this time?” Petra asked, when Levi returned to HQ just after midnight had struck on the old vicarage grandfather clock.

“Much better,” Levi replied, watching the serpent tattoo complete a couple of slithery circuits of his wrist.

“Did you seduce him?” Eld asked, with a knowing smile, always confident in his boss’s abilities.

“Yes, and no,” Levi replied. “He thinks he resisted me.”

“But he didn’t?” Oluo asked, his eyes glowing with admiration.

“Oh no. That second lot of research you did was _very_ useful. No – lust is far too obvious a trap for Erwin Smith. But the seeds are sewn… He’s already beginning to think it…”

“Think what, Boss?” Petra asked breathlessly.

“Wait and see. Him upstairs isn’t the only one who can play at the ‘moving in mysterious ways’ game… Oh, by the way, I stole something for us all – something we’ve been without down here for a very long time.” Levi held up a red cardboard box labelled _Sainsbury’s Premium Teabags._ The subordinate demons broke into a round of spontaneous applause.


End file.
